Last week Holly, Mom and I all went out to find a Christmas tree and just as Home Depot was closing we found one and brought it home. It’s a pilgrimage that we make every year and every time we make it, I re-question just why we’re doing it in the first place. I don’t mean to sound like a Grinch, because I’m really not. I enjoy Christmas as much as the next person. It’s a joyous season and I like the music and the decorations, the food and the festivities. Although it’s a crazy time of year, I find the season very enjoyable. The only part I don’t find fun is the Christmas tree.
In my mind having a Christmas tree is pure insanity. I don’t know how this custom came to be and I sure as heck don’t know how it became a custom that everyone agreed was a good idea. I mean who seriously sat back and thought bringing a tree inside your home made sense?
In lieu of a definitive answer, I imagine a couple in a log cabin at the turn of the century. They are at the kitchen table enjoying a hot cup of cocoa talking about how to decorate their house that year. Because I’m sure that’s what early pioneers did in their log cabins. 😉 In my mind the conversation went a little something like this:
A few days ago, I was presented with an interesting opportunity. I had to take my Mother to an appointment today which meant that I would have about an hour to myself while I waited for her. Knowing this ahead of time, I packed some treats to help make the wait a little time out for myself. A chance to get away from the hectic pace of the day and do a little writing.
Holly and I weren’t planning on doing much of anything this past Halloween. We usually try to do something kind of special to scare the kids that come to trick-or-treat, but this year we’ve been so busy that we hadn’t given it much thought. Saturday morning we discussed it and decided that we weren’t going to do anything but hand out candy. We felt like we were wussing out a bit, but doing nothing sounded more favorable than trying to throw something together at the last minute. As we headed out to run a few errands later that afternoon, one of the kids from down the street asked us what we were doing this year. We explained that we weren’t planning on anything, to which he replied, “Aww, that’s to bad. Last year was really scary and I was looking forward to what you were going to do this year.” Nothing like a guilt-trip from a child to get your butt in gear.
On April 15th, I filed and extension with the IRS for the first time in my life. It wasn’t something I wanted to do, but I was left with no other alternative because I simply wasn’t ready. As I called in my extension, which was a really cool way to do it, I vowed to get serious about my accounting and get things in order in the next 30 days. Unfortunately, instead of “getting serious”, I paved a few more miles to hell with my good intentions. So with August 15th looming just around the bend, I spent all weekend getting my records in order.
An interesting thing happened to me on Saturday. I was cleaning the pool for the second time this season. It got away from me as I was trying to switch from chlorine to 
Man the last month or so has really put me off balance. There’s been too many changes in my life that have happened too fast. It’s one thing when you are the initiator of change, but it’s something completely different when change is forced upon you by others. This morning I’ve reached the end of my “comfort zone”, so there’s nothing left to do now but whine and pitch a fit. 😛